Seven Nights at Simons
by ShadeFinder
Summary: What happens when haunted animatronics take over a bakery? What happens when there isn't an official night-guard? And what happens when two teenage brothers sneak inside the place on a dare? Here is the story of what happens to Jack(19) and Paul(17) when they spend Seven nights at Simons.
1. Chapter 1

"I can't believe we're about to do this, Paul." I whisper. We were standing outside the doors to Simons (a popular bakery that was known for its animatronic singers, life-like wall murals, heavenly baked goods, and cheap party rooms) at around ten forty-three, long after sunset. I was terrified that we would get caught breaking in.

"Just a second, Jack. I've almost..." the lock finally clicked, signaling that it was open. We walked in and he locked the door behind us, condemning us to a full five hours here. We only had to stay until three, and that would be difficult enough, what with the security cameras and all. We walked through the building, shining our flashlights on everything.

The wall murals, I noted, looked very different at night. One, supposedly depicting a cherry-soda river, looked like blood had been smeared all along it; enough blood that at least three men would have had to have died to make it. Most of the flowers in the 'poppy fields' mural looked like bloodstains as well. Old ones.

The creepiest mural, though, was the 'party-man'. He was a tall, pale, masked man wearing a polka-dotted suit with confetti, balloons, and streamers painted around him. At night, the streamers looked like tentacles and the confetti looked like splattered blood. We hurried past the doors that led to the security guards office. Only, there was more than one. There were four doors marked security guard, all with thick, steel, electronic doors blocking them.

We looked around curiously for a few minutes, until we heard footsteps. I checked my watch, "Its eleven twenty-eight, that must be the security guard." We hurried into the room to the right of the entry hall, hoping he wouldn't find us there. We kept silent for twenty-five minutes, waiting to see if he would come in and find us. When he didn't, we got comfortable.

"Hey, wonder if anything interesting will happen?" Paul asked, yawning sightly. "I-." My response was cut off as the door swished open and the night-guard rushed in. "Two minutes before they can move! Great timing, Sean! Great timing!" He closed the door and started towards a vent, several thick wooden boards under one arm and a screw-gun in his right hand. He froze, though, when he noticed us and his face turned pale. "Aww..." he seemed to struggle for a moment before finishing his sentence; " _Heck_ no! No!" he glanced at his watch, frantic. "No time! No time!" he looked back at us. "You have to stay here, okay?!" he sounded frazzled. "Ooh... the animatronics will wake up in a few minutes and they will be bloodthirsty. Why Sunday? The hardest of all the freaking nights!" he kept talking to himself as we stared at him and he gathered all of our stuff in a corner. Then he dashed to the vent and began putting boards over it. based on his heavy breathing, he had either just finished some exhausting workout, or he was terrified. Maybe both.

Both Paul and me scooted away from the nightguard slightly, fairly disturbed by his muttering. "Well... insane night-guard. Didn't expect that." Paul whispered in my ear, after a full minute of watching him screw in the wooden boards. "I heard that!" Sean called as he secured the last hunk of wood. "Listen kids, ever wonder why there's a new night-guard every week? Or why the carpets are different each Monday? Or, the big question, what even happens to those old night-guards?! Why no-one ever see them again?" he checked his watch. "AAH!" his shout made me jump. I was becoming increasingly convinced that this guy was crazy. 'Then why do they let him work here?' asked my curious, infuriatingly emotional side. I groaned inwardly. Was I actually considering his words? It was crazy it couldn't be true... could it?

Sean dashed to the cameras and began flitting through them, frantically searching. "When I say the word 'close', push the button next to the door! If you don't, we all die." He said it so matter-of-factly, his voice so filled with terrified certainty, that, against the voice of reason in my head that was practically screaming at me not to trust him, I found myself believing his words. I ran to the door and stood there waiting.

A minute later he let out a breath I hadn't known he was holding. "Ah, Simon, I've found you...why the kitchen? Ty; on the stage... and... Bryan too. Where's Lyra? And where's..." he froze. Then his voice got quiet and shaky, terror flooding his tone. "Heaven help us, it's that new one. He's..." Sean's eyes widened. "SHUT THE DOOR!"

I slammed my palm against the button as solidly as I could and the door shut more quickly than I could have believed. Not fast enough for me to miss the image of a silent man dashing towards the door, though. Or miss the feeling of a few drops of some liquid on my hand as he lunged for the door, flinging out his hand before it closed.

I pulled my hand to my face and looked at the strange liquid on my hand. It was a deep red and smelled like iron. As if in a trance I licked a drop from my hand.

It was blood.

My body began shivering. This was not okay, this kind of thing just didn't happen. Ever. It was several seconds before I heard someone calling my name. "JAKE!" I shook myself and turned to look at Paul. "What?" Then I realized that he had his hand on the button and was gasping. "It almost g-got th-through... it was th-the tiger." He shivered visibly. My eyes widened and I took a step back, then I turned to look at Sean.

He was holding the vent shut, and I could see him straining. Little clanging noises came from the vent, and I could hear the wood groaning. I ran over and threw my body against the barricade, attempting to help him hold the wood in place as adrenaline flooded my body. "What kind of idiot would make these things!?" I shouted at him; the near silence and sudden, overwhelming fear were starting to get to me, "And why the heck didn't you make us leave?!" Sean looked like he was about to answer, but then he paled. "Oh no," he whispered, "it's the night they promised me." He dashed to the cameras and shouted "CLOSE THE DOORS!" Paul reacted instantly, slamming the button down. A loud thud sounded from behind the doors and Paul shuddered. "Listen kids," Sean said, almost sounding calm, "just in case I die tonight, tell the next guy to check drawer number thirteen. I keep all of my notes about this place there and he will die without it."

I stared at him, my confusion adding to my panic, "What?! If _you_ die!? Why do you think they won't kill us?! What the heck is going o-". Before I could finish speaking, a deafening shriek rang through the building, followed by the sound of cracking wood. Sean whipped around to face me just as I felt something cold and hard ram through the wood into my back. I jerked forward and nearly slammed my head into the floor, only stopping in time because I physically couldn't bend that far. I heard the crunching of more wood and immediately twisted my body, rolling first onto my side and then towards the desk.

As I jumped to my feet, I saw a large, turquoise, robotic squirrel climb out of the vent. The thing looked broken, beat up, and was covered in dried blood, nothing like what I'd seen the last time I'd been to this bakery. As the squirrel began to climb to its feet; Sean froze, tremors running through his body and his face pale as a corpse. I dashed to my brother and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the room through the open door as the animatronic nightmare let out a triumphant, broken shriek and began to move towards Sean.

We flew out the door, fast enough to get past the bloodied animatronic I'd mistaken for a man. It froze as we ran past it, turning its head and body to watch us disappear around the corner. Around the corner was a room with two other animatronics in it, the lioness and the tiger. As we entered the room, they turned to look at us. Their eyes, which I remembered as being orange and gold respectively, were deep, empty voids of darkness, and their bodies resembled the dilapidated form of Simon the squirrel. I nearly tripped as I saw the lifeless pits of their eyes, but I managed to keep moving forward. Towards the giant, terrifying, bloodied animatronics with claws and teeth that could cut through a car door.

Panic kept me moving, and I only barely heard my brother when he yelled; "San-Francisco!" Years of muscle memory and reliving the bitter-sweet memories of our ex-dads home let me avoid running into the nightmare machines. My brother and I had had bully problems back in California, and nothing we tried had gotten them to stop. After mentioning the knives we'd been threatened with, our father had taught us how to run away and enrolled us parkour classes. It'd been a good idea since we lived in a city full of ladders, rooftops, rails, poles, and other, harder to get around objects; buildings and alleyways being our main concern. We once managed to get away from them by jumping onto and off of a wall to grab a ladder so we could run out to the street. We did something similar now.

As the animatronics began to move towards us, I angled myself towards the wall, planning to use it as a launching pad; where I was trying to jump to I had no clue. Before we reached the wall, though, I heard a scream echo from the guard rooms. Fresh adrenaline flooded my body and I ran even faster, pushing myself harder than I had in years, only to hear the sound of something big and metallic running even faster than myself. I managed to reach the wall and jump onto it just as the running creature was getting close. I minimized my forward momentum, allowing me to take another step up the wall and try to get as high as I could before pushing off with all my might.

I flew through the air, clearing the animatronics heads, though I was moving towards some tables that would easily sprain my ankle; if nothing worse happened. Fear flooded my brain again, making it hard to breath; and then my brother grabbed my hand, turning my fall into a swing. He managed to pull me up enough for me to grab what he was holding onto for dear life; a light fixture. We climbed onto the light, clinging to it for dear life, just as a loud clang sounded and the fixture shuddered violently; nearly knocking us off of it. I looked down, my face paling, and saw the humanoid animatronic kneeling on the ground; it looked like it had nearly replicated what we'd done.

I looked at my brother as the thing straightened and I saw my own panicked look reflected on his face. "Next light?" I asked in a strained whisper. He nodded and we began to swing the fixture we were on back and forth, trying to get close enough to jump to the next light. We jumped as soon as the animatronics began to run towards the wall, barely making it to the next light. It swung forward because of our momentum and we used that to start swinging towards the next light. We jumped just as a loud clang sounded from behind us and when we landed I looked back for a moment to see what had happened. The humanoid one had made it onto the light and was starting to imitate our swinging technique. We jumped again and I started try to match my brothers pace as closely as possible to speed up our swinging.

We made good time, crossing the entire room in minutes, though the animatronic started to catch up. When we reached the other end of the room, he was almost on top of us; a mere two swings from catching us. I grabbed his hand and we jumped for the door, grabbing the frame and swinging into the next room. I saw a button next to the door and managed to turn and push it before the animatronic jumped to the floor. A door slid shut, separating us from the animatronic demons. I turned around and grabbed my brother's hand, dragging him to the front doors of the building.

They were locked.

I turned around and saw the lion and the tiger looking through the small hole in the door, watching us. I didn't see the human-looking one though, which terrified me. I turned back to the door and tried kicking it as hard as I could, hoping to crack the glass. A single crack spread across the glass. Emboldened, I dropped to my back and began slamming my foot into the glass again and again, ignoring the pain that filled my lower-leg because of it. Paul started kicking the glass as well, though he stayed upright, in an attempt to help break it faster. I heard a loud crash in the kitchen just as the glass shattered, leaving a big enough hole for one person to crawl through at a time. Knowing the glass would break off on the first person through, I immediately jumped through it, feeling long lacy cuts form all along my body.

Once I was out, I turned back to the door and reached in for my brother, grabbing his arm and pulling him through the dulled glass. Before he was halfway out of the door, he stopped. He screamed, and began to be pulled back into the building. I pulled as hard as I could, terror now overwhelming my mind for an entirely new reason. Whatever was in that place had Paul. I tried to pull harder.

Suddenly my new cuts all pulsed, causing my arms to spasm and me to let out a gasp of pain. For half a second, my hands opened and I watched my brother fly back into the building. A wordless, grotesque, inhumanly agonized scream burst from my throat and I leapt at the hole. Gripping the sharp biting edge as hard as I could, barely noticing the pain, I stared inside. My brother was no-where to be found, instead I saw the terrifying human-animatronic. I now noticed fresh blood dripping down its side. And it was watching me. It moved towards the hole and I backed away. It placed its face against the hole and stared at me, studying me for what felt like hours. Then it dropped a piece of paper to the concrete and, eventually, left.

I sat there, in shock, for a long time. When I finally shook myself out of my daze, the sun was starting to rise and lights were beginning to come on in people's houses. As the sunlight touched the bakery, every inch of it changed making it look perfect and new. Even the glass was suddenly whole again. I crawled to the piece of paper and looked at it before the sunlight touched it. Finally, what had happened hit home and tears began to flow down my cheeks. My brother was gone and, according to the paper, I'd only ever see him again if I survived seven more nights at this place.

I was the new night-guard.

* * *

 **(A/N) What do you guys think? If you guys have any questions, just ask. I'll clear it up in the next chapter. Till then!**

 **Your scribe,**

 **-Shadefinder ;D**


	2. Chapter 2: The devil doesn't sleep

I pulled up to the apartment complex I called home, dizzy from loss of blood; the pain of all my cuts the only thing keeping me from the dark, welcome abyss of unconsciousness. I got out of the old truck that had, mere hours ago, allowed me and my brother to enter this nightmare. Closing and locking the door of the thing was challenging, as my arm shook constantly, but soon I was walking through the mostly empty parking lot.

Sarah, the woman who welcomed people into the building and took care of divvying out the rooms, sat at the front desk. Thankfully, she didn't hear me walk in, careful with the door as I was, and I managed to get to the elevator without anyone noticing my presence. Of-course, it was just my luck that the doors opened when I was about to press the button and a young woman nearly stepped into me.

She let out a surprised gasp when she nearly ran into me and immediately began to apologize. "Oh, crap, I'm so sorry! I- What happened to you?" She stared in horror at the long, thin, bloody cuts that laced their way along both my clothing and skin. She began to raise a bigger fuss, but I quickly dodged around her and pressed the buttons to close the elevator door and get me to my floor. She was shocked enough that she only managed to turn around in time to see the doors closed. I hoped I wouldn't see her again; the poor girl had nearly alerted Sarah. That would've lead to a very awkward conversation; and someone stopping me from going back to the bakery.

I wouldn't – no… couldn't- let that happen.

The elevator stopped on the third floor, one floor below mine, and I prepared to dash out of the small box. The door opened to reveal a teenage boy, slightly younger than myself, holding a can of spray-paint and wearing an apologetic grimace. I barely hesitated, only for the moment needed to see where he was, but that was all the time he needed to spray me with his can; straight in the chest.

Right where my cuts were deepest.

I let out a scream as the paint in the can hit my still open wounds, and felt my limbs spasm in response to the pain. My knees also caved in, causing me to collapse to the ground and my mind to finally admit defeat and allow itself to give-in to exhaustion.

The last thing I saw or heard was the kid rushing over to me and calling for help. Then everything went black.

When I finally managed to return to consciousness, I let out groan and sat up, ignoring the throbbing cuts all over my body. I hadn't forgotten, even in sleep, what had happened and immediately tried to get out of bed. If I was going to be the new night-guard and save Pauls' life, I'd have to quit my current job and apply at the bakery. Hopefully someone else hadn't yet applied.

My thoughts came to a halt when I opened my eyes and saw a bedroom that did not belong to me. I sat there, frozen, for what felt like minutes as I tried to process what was going on. Then my memory clicked and I remembered.

I felt like punching the idiot and dropping him out of the nearest alleyway window, but that brought back memories that had me almost shutting down, and I forced myself to calm down. I was terrified that I might repeat what I'd done the last time I'd gotten angry at someone; I hadn't allowed myself to feel the emotion of anger in almost four years. Annoyance, jealousy, disgust, sure I'd felt those; but anger was another story…

I shook myself from my daze, and finished standing up. I walked to the window, letting out a sigh of relief to see that I had at least a few hours to do everything I needed to. That relief turned to panic as I heard voices outside the door, getting louder and nearer with every second. "How's his condition?" asked a harsh, lightly feminine voice. "He isn't sick Janice, but he's covered in really long cuts." Replied an equally light, though much more boyish voice, "I… I didn't want to check how deep they went…"

There was silence for a second and I began to work open the window, grateful that I recognized the building on the opposite street. We were only a floor or so below my own apartment. Then they started up again, just outside the door. "You like him, don't you!" Accused the girl; I assumed she was a girl. "What! No! I-" "Just admit you're a closet case! You spend enough time with your 'friends' and little enough with any actual people…" I could hear a chuckle after she'd said that, almost like they having an old argument that they'd turned into a game. "That's not true!" he shot back, obviously not playing along, "They may not be human, but that doesn't…" I couldn't hear the rest, my mind was too busy dealing with a sudden influx of information.

* * *

I saw a crowd of children, though it was through some kind of mask, and I was straining to hold in screams of pain. Every jerky movement that whatever suit I was in made, I felt my muscles stretch, my bones bend and crack, and even felt my skin tear slightly as was pulled to tightly. None of my life had prepared me for the amount of discomfort and pain I had been feeling for the past day; or the amount of exhaustion that I was now feeling. Blood-loss, lack of sleep, pain, and whatever twisted 'magic' the animatronic creatures were using to keep me awake only kept me awake; I still felt every agonizing bit of tiredness, even though I couldn't fall asleep.

Without warning, the suit stretched itself into a spine-stretching pose, and I felt another scream form inside me. I desperately held it in, though I didn't know why, I only knew something terrible would happen if I made a sound. Then I felt arms grab me, arms that weren't animatronic, or human. It felt almost like an elongated, freezing corpse was holding me in an embrace from behind. At the same time, I felt breath on my ear and a wet, fleshy, thing traced my cheek, leaving something that smelled like blood in its wake. Something whispered, "See you tonight."

* * *

My eyes snapped open, seeing the room I'd woken up in earlier, and I let out a scream. My arms and legs flung themselves, almost of their own volition, in random directions, trying to help do something, anything, to escape whatever had said those words. I struggled with the person holding me for a few minutes before someone else splashed water on us. I gasped in shock, nearly breathing in the water as the cold liquid snapped me out of my terror. I stopped moving and stared at the girl who had tossed the water on me, only to feel the arms that were holding me squeeze me again, probably afraid I'd start flailing about again.

The arms brought back memories; a similar situation, someone standing behind me…

I felt panic rising again, only to force it down. I wouldn't let my emotions get the better of me, not while Paul needed me. With my fear in check, I threw myself into a backwards somersault, surprising whomever was holding me and effectively wrenching myself out of their now-awkward hold. I then jumped to my feet, letting gravity pull me down slightly into a running stance when my feet had a solid grip on the floor. Both the girl and the boy(I could now see that it was the spray-paint boy who had been holding me) looked a little surprised; I was a little shocked as well, though I chocked it up to adrenaline.

"Look, I just wanna go home, okay?" I said, pain and exhaustion lacing my tone. I knew it was the wrong thing to say when they looked first at each-other, then back to me. The girl spoke first, her hands raised in a calming gesture; despite the large bowl in one hand. "You should probably just calm down and let me look at your injuries… okay?" She took a step forward and I tensed my legs, though I let my face show off just how tired I was. She took another step, emboldened by my apparent acceptance.

"Hey," called the boy, rubbing his arms and moving to stand up, "please listen to Janice. She's in med school; she'll know how to help you." He started to get to his feet, and Janice took another step forward. I bolted, pushing off the wall and dashing past her fast enough to shock her into frozen silence. I heard them start to give chase, though rather poorly, even before I reached the door. It had three locks that I managed to undo just as they got out of their hallway and into the front room. I pulled open the door and ran out, despite their protests and pleas, and ran to the staircase as fast as I could. I was running up the stairs before the stairwell door had finished closing behind me.

The boy was a fast runner to, though, and I heard him chasing me up the stairs before I could get to the next floor. When I did reach it, I saw that it was only the third floor; they must've taken me down a floor. I groaned as I kept running, past the third door exit and up to the fourth floor where my apartment was. I heard him pass the third floor door as I reached the top of the next set of stairs and mentally slapped myself for not thinking to try and confuse him by leaving the door open and slowing my own pace.

When I finally did reach the fourth floor, the highest floor of the building aside from the roof, I immediately threw open the door; only to be greeted by Janice's stern face. Before I could turn and dash away, she grabbed my shoulder and pinched the nerve above my collar-bone. "Stay still and let me help you!" She said, nearly yelling. I almost crumpled to the floor, the pain adding to what was already there, but I forced myself to ignore it and push her. The push made her fall to the floor, surprising her with its abruptness, and I leapt over her to keep running. Sweat had begun to form on me, and it stung my cuts like sea-water.

I kept running until I reached my door, which I remembered was locked. I fell to the floor and pulled up the welcome mat pulling at some stitching on the bottom until the key was visible. I then snatched it and leapt to my feet, my hand shaking almost too much to let me put the key into the keyhole. I managed to turn the key, but the boy grabbed my wrist before I could pull open the door. "What is wrong with you!?" he asked as his sister caught up with him, panting from the exertion, "Just let us help you and quit being so-" I interrupted him, choosing to fake my anger and try to scare him away. "You sprayed paint on my cuts and you expect me to trust you?!" He froze, the anger in my voice confusing him. Janice, for her part stopped as well;her gaze turning to glare at the boy.

I didn't wait to let her finish her glare, though. I knew I looked scared, and the anger sounded false even to me, but the boys confusion gave me a chance that I took. I kicked him in the stomach, winding him and making him trip into his sister, giving me enough time to open the door, step in, and slam it in their protesting faces. I twisted the lock, preventing them from simply opening the door and coming after me again. Then I reached up and twisted the lock near the top of the door, practically bolting it shut; I was not going to let anyone keep me from helping my brother.

I sighed, leaning against the door as they banged on it, trying to convince me to come out. I turned around so my back was against the door, then I slowly lowered myself to the floor. I finally let myself relax, letting the pain from every cut and ache wash over me, my own agony dulling itself.

Eventually, a few minutes after the yelling had stopped, I got up and unbolted the door. My roommate would get home eventually and need to get in. I then went to get myself cleaned up; If I was going to get a new job, and quit my old one, I'd need to at least look presentable. My mental bar of conscious thought would also have to be raised a bit, and I decided something cold would help. I would've gone with coffee, if the stuff hadn't been tied to some of my brothers' darker memories of our biological dad; or his memories of mom… Needless to say, we'd avoided the stuff, and I continued to do so out of habit. I grabbed a smoothie from the fridge instead.

After I finished the smoothie, I showered, changed, and even brushed my hair; something I rarely did. As I was doing so, my hair still wet from the shower, I realized that my cuts didn't hurt as badly as they had earlier. I carefully rolled up a sleeve of my shirt and saw that most of them had scabbed over, despite having been reopened less than an hour ago; some of them even looked like fading scars. I didn't know for certain what had caused it, but my mind began to believe that the rapid healing was somehow linked to the buildings early-morning self-repair. Maybe the animatronics were already active and I was late.

I stumbled out of the bathroom and nearly knocked over my room-mate, Keith. He looked like he was heading to the bedroom we shared. That surprised me; I thought I would've heard him come in. I grabbed his shoulders, as much to steady him as to catch his attention. "What time is it!?" I all but screamed in his face. "He seemed taken aback by the urgency of my tone. "Well... it's after seven. I don't know _exactly_ when, I only just got home." He looked and sounded intimidated, and very much confused. I pushed him back slightly, trying not to jostle him as I flew down the hall, running hard. I stopped in the kitchen, horror flooding me as I saw that it was seven twenty-one; Simons would be closing soon. I called out a quick explanation before running out the door as fast as I could.

I made it to my truck only to realize that my keys had been on me when I'd first gone into the apartment that morning. They hadn't been in my pocket when I had finally gotten home. Behind me I heard the same boy from earlier say, "Finally, what took you so long?" I whipped around and saw him standing there, my keys on one of his fingers, a smug, if self-conscious, grin on his face. The girl, Janice, also stood next to him, her arms crossed and an expression of contempt on her face. "Why the heck did you run off!?" she practically yelled, stalking forward. I glanced at my watch; I had half an hour to make it to Simons, and I knew the way. I looked at the roof, thinking.

"Why on earth would you act like such an idiot?! And what are you looking at?" the last part was said so calmly and curiously that I looked down in surprise. The boy clenched his fist, eyes darting to the roof, and I saw a light come on in his head. I grimaced as he stared at me in awe. "You can't be planning to run! Not across the rooftops!" he exclaimed, amazement and what sounded like disbelief in his tone. Janice frowned and moved closer to me. "What are you talking about, Paul?"

The name hit me like a physical blow; I gasped, clutching my chest and trying to breath. My knees buckled and tears began to prick my eyes; panic flooded me too, along with phantom pain from injuries I'd never received. I felt them shaking me, felt them yelling for help, and I forced myself to move. I snatched the keys from Pau- the boy, and I lunged into a run, first away from, then backtracking awkwardly towards, my truck. I managed to get in, my vision fuzzing slightly from oxygen deprivation, and lock the door. Slowly, my breath came back, and I started the thing up. Maybe I could get to Simons before they closed if I hurried.

I called up my employer, the owner of a store who'd had me making party supplies, as I drove and let her know that, due to unforeseen circumstances, I'd have to leave my position. She accepted what I said and hung up, leaving me jobless. I all but sped there, too afraid of getting pulled over to risk breaking the speed limit. I managed to get there just as the manager- I prayed it was the manager -was locking the door. I threw open my cars door and ran over to him as he walked up to his car. He looked up in shock as I stopped next to him, panting slightly. My ears ringing and my heart pounding I spoke before he got over his shock.

"I'm here to apply for the position of night-guard!" I nearly yelled the words, barely holding myself in check. I was wound up tighter than a spring, and I felt I might simply pop if things didn't work out. "Well…" he said still confused and now a little scared, "how did you know we needed that position filled? We only just learned of Mister Sean's' dea-departure, this morning." He looked at me, fear showing in his eyes. "I… I was there last night when Sean died, sir." I replied bluntly, "I'm probably the reason he's dead, and…" I thought quickly, "And I want to make up for it. I feel terrible that he died, and I feel like it's my fault. Please let me atone for that mistake." I let a pleading tone enter my voice at the end.

He stared at me in abject terror for a moment, something obviously wrong about what I'd said. I bit my lower lip, hoping against hope that he'd agree. He shook his head for a moment, almost making me think he was saying no, and then he said, in a dejected tone, "Go ahead. I know that's not the real reason, but what does it matter? Go ahead, I guess tonight will be a sort of... test trial. Tomorrow, you'll officially become the security guard. Here are the keys." He looked up, what looked like hope sparking in his eyes, "Goodnight mister…" he let himself trail off, sounding anxious and hopeful at the same time. "Schumann," I replied. "Jack Schumann." His face fell, and he looked almost forlorn. "Goodnight Mister Schumann, and good luck. I'll see you tomorrow." He quickly turned back to his car and opened the door.

I watched him drive off and I noted his license plate. Based on the number, and the graffiti, I'd have said he was from san-Francisco. I shuddered and faced the doors of the bakery. I had ten minutes before eight o'clock, and it would probably be a good idea to get some sleep…

Something told me it would be better if I began to prepare for the night ahead, so I sighed and, after unlocking the doors, walked into the building.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hey guys, it's me again! I'm fairly new to writing, so I don't have a set schedule of posting, though I like to update things as soon as I have a finished product. I guess that means every chance I get. Shout-out to Kelsbird11, who is the first person to comment on this thing! I'm rather proud that I've earned someone's attention, and I'm trying not to let it go to my head. As before, let me know if you have any questions, I'll either answer you via PM, or in the next chapter. And if you have any constructive criticism, I'd be happy to hear it. Till next time!**

 **Your scribe,**

 **-Shadefinder :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Roses, Demons, and Fans

I walked into the building, my body buzzing with fear and adrenaline. It felt like it had been days ago that those beast had taken my brother; had it really only been a few hours? I didn't bother giving myself a response, I knew the answer.

The inside of the building was clean and beautiful; the shelves were intact, the building was orderly, and everything looked ready to be put to use at any moment. I went to the supplies closet intent on ruining it. When I opened the closet door, however, I was met with the smell of decaying flesh and something… cold. Just the smell made shiver, not just in revulsion, but because of a sudden icy chill down my spine. Whatever was in there it was not worth facing whatever beast lay hidden inside. I quickly shut the door.

I turned around and stiffly walked away from the small closet, blood rushing through my ears as my heart pounded heavily, hoping that I couldn't, or hadn't, woken them up early. My pace quickly lead me from the entry hall through the common room, the one with the light fixtures me and Paul had escaped on, and into the main party room. Merely thinking his name made flinch in pain, guilt attacking me with renewed vigor; despite this, I kept walking until I reached the stage that Lyra and Bryan stood on. I watched them for a moment, staring into their inactive eyes and searching for any hint of what was to come, until the memories from earlier washed over me. Tears started forming in my eyes as my knees grew weak and shook from the effort of holding myself up; Paul had been stuck inside one of these two things all day, and I couldn't help him. I forced myself to leave the room and head for the security guard offices.

As I entered the office, a chill ran down my spine; It felt like someone was watching me. I made myself walk over to the desk, fear about what I would find gripping my mind. Thankfully, nothing was there; nothing except the chair and the drawers. I sighed, my chest feeling lighter from relief. I sat down and looked at the desktop in front of me. There was a computer with a sticky-note labeled day-guard, a small tablet connected to a charging station on the desk, and a phone with a blinking red light. The light on the phone meant that there was a message... why hadn't it been listened too? In curiosity, I clicked the play button and listened to the man that started speaking.

"Hey there, friend! You're probably the new night guard, am I right!?" The man on the phone was overly cheery, almost creepily so; I started to regret my decision to listen to it. To deeply regret it. "That's wonderful! You're going to _love_ working here at Simons Bakery and Party House! Trust me when I say that you'll be _dying_ to come back every night!" I blinked. had the man just used sarcasm? He wouldn't have, not on a welcoming tape; unless this was a distraction. I glanced at the clock as he kept talking. "But that's the welcoming stuff, let's get to the important bit." The clock said 8:49, I was still safe for another four hours, right? "Now, the rumors are the first thing I need to clear up. No, the animatronics don't want to eat you. They're machines, how could they eat you? They don't even have a digestive tract... I think they don't, anyway." I chuckled slightly, like that was going to comfort anyone. "Now, on the other hand, yes; they do want to kill you. But please trust me when I say that they have a perfectly reasonable explanation." I sat straight up, my eyes widening in shock at his words. What excuse could they possibly have for killing people!? And why would they outright tell the night-guard he was on a hitlist?! "Unfortunately, I don't know what it is and I couldn't share it if I did. Company policy and all, you probably know how they are about not letting their employees know the reason for their deaths. That aside, I think it's time you learned how to work the cameras; give you a chance at survival or... something..."

His tone went from jovial to a more natural annoyed sounding voice, probably tired too. " The welcoming sheet isn't very informative at this point, so I'll just tell you what I remember from my three nights as night-guard. First you have to pick up the tablet and turn it on, fully disconnecting it from its charging station. After that, you should automatically see the activation sequence... er... activating it. Don't return the tablet to the charging station until your shift is over, otherwise you'll wind up with half the charge you thought you had left, and you'll have to start the thing up again." I shivered and glanced at the clock again. 9:37, the clock face read. I started to get worried. time definitely didn't pass that quickly. That meant I had far less time to prepare than I had thought. "Now, to click through the cameras is easy, simply tap the corresponding camera on the minimal in the lower left corner of the screen or tap the left or right side of the screen. I'm gonna give you a pro-tip since its your first night and we can't really afford to lose another night-guard so soon. Don't look at the cameras until two tonight. they like to wait until your panicking and using more battery power than you should." that was a good thing to know. "A pro-tip..." I whispered to myself, "didn't Sean say he'd left some around here somewhere?" I shook my head slightly, ridding my head of the errant thought. I had to focus right now; I made myself focus on the recording again.

"Good! That's all I can tell you tonight, another policy or something, you know how it is!" he was back to his overly jolly voice; it was getting _very_ annoying. "Well see you tomorrow night! And don't forget, stay calm or your death is assured!" Then the mans voice sounded like it was whispering. "They can smell your fear, it's like blood for sharks! It drives them into a fury! Don't let them make you afraid or they will become unpredictable and all the more dangerous! I'll see you tomorrow, just hold on! hold-" the phone buzzed with white noise and clicked, signaling that the call was over. I turned off the phone, not wanting to hear the white noise the entire time. Then I glanced at the clock. The numbers were slightly blurry, which confused me. So I rubbed my eyes. The numbers flashed two thirty and a phantom scream echoed through the building.

Panic exploded inside my head and I snapped my eyes to the computer's screen and started to flip through the cameras, searching desperately for the animatronics. My panic rose with every camera I flicked through as I saw empty room after empty room until something made me freeze. Something very near me smelled extremely strongly of rotting meat. I slowly looked up, cold sweat forming on my forehead, and saw the creature who'd given me the note last night. It moved closer to me, deliberately slowly, and my muscles locked into place more and more tightly, preventing me from moving. My eyes were as wide as physically possible, fear blocking every thought except the need to flee, and it stared into my eyes; the dark pits of its eyes seemed to pull at something in my chest and I tried in vain to move, to run away from the unnatural beast in front of me. The animatronic made a sound that resembled a chuckle, instead of a cheerful, human sound, a sound like metal scratching against a chalkboard came from it, setting my teeth on edge. Then it spoke. "Hello, little nightguard." Its voice reminded me of my own after someone had been choking me; rough, scratchy, and dry. "I'm Simon, welcome to the bakery." He then screeched and dashed forward.

I finally unfroze and jerked away from _it_ in terror causing my chair to fall backwards and letting out a scream of raw fear. As I landed, I shut my eyes in terror, not wanting to see my death take me, unable to admit I'd failed paul. Nothing happened. I slowly opened one of my eyes, then the other; the animatronic was gone. I sat up and glanced at the clock, confusion and fear crawling into my skull when I saw the number flashing on it. 11:59.

I slowly stood up and looked around, hoping to see exactly what I wound up seeing; everything was as it should be, nothing was out of place, and no demonic robots were inside the room with me. It had just been a hallucination. I would have felt relieved, but if I had a stress or lack-of-sleep induced hallucination this early in the evening then I would have many more before the night was through. I settled back into my chair, and then I watched the clock, waiting for my shift to start. the moment the clock changed from 11:59 to 12:00, a scream echoed through the building. It wasn't the scream I'd heard in the hallucination; instead it was the scream of a little girl, terrified and in pain. The sound was even more unnerving than the ghostly wail I'd been expecting, and I tightened my grip on the desk as my teeth ground together; it took everything I had in me not to run out the door and try to help her, until I thought of paul. I didn't need to fight myself after that.

I pulled the tablet off of the charging station and booted it up, a symbol I didn't recognize appearing on the screen. It looked like a rose, but it was a deep purple-black instead of red, and it looked like it was in a cage. A chill ran up my spine as the screen switched to the camera feeds- apparently that being the things only function- and I was immediately greeted with the sight of a squirrel entering what I recognized as the night-guard hallway. I dashed to the door and pressed the button just as the beast came into view, it's screech of rage and disappointment bringing other howls from various areas of the bakery; including the vent above my chair. I all but flew over to it, glancing in to identify what was there. Lyra the Lioness gazed back at me, freezing at the sight of a night-guard idiotic enough to run toward the sound of a killer robot instead of away. That gave me enough time to reach in and pull one of the vent covers out from under her and fasten it to the vent in front of her face. Her scream of anger sent a chill down my spine and made me glance behind me. Simon the squirrel, or whatever its name was, was in the doorway. The thing flew forward, almost literally, and I barely managed to leap to the side in time. A loud thump and the sound of screeching metal told me it had hit the wall, but I didn't look behind me before I grabbed the tablet and sprinted out the door. One of the guard rooms at least was compromised and I needed a safe place to hide; luckily for me there were three other guard rooms. I dashed into the one directly across the hall from my own and immediately turned to slam the button next to the door. It wasn't there.

I jerked to the side just in time to avoid being trampled by the lioness that came barrelling in after me, avoiding another confrontation as she managed to stop only to be knocked over by Simon as the squirrel blasted in after her. I stifled a relieved laugh at the tangled mess of robotic limbs on the floor and ran out of the room, making a mental note to explore the other guard rooms and figure out how they worked as soon as this night was over. I leaped back into the first guard room and slammed the door shut behind me, holding it shut with my back while I checked the tablet. Simon and Lyra were just getting up and looked like they were avoiding eye contact, angry glances and jerky movements displaying their anger at having lost me, the creepy guy who'd given me the note was no-where to be found, and there was a fox sitting on the stage; it looked like it was guarding something.

I kept flicking through the cameras; if that was where they were keeping paul, I'd have no chance to save paul tonight. I'd have to wait until this morning to look for paul, if there was even a chance I _could_ find him during the day. He'd been taken at night and everything had reset when the day came, so it was possible he couldn't be found during the day. The thoughts sounded illogical in my head, but I shook off my doubts, I was dealing with the supernatural after all. I stopped when I reached the camera for the supplies closet I'd tried to enter earlier. the screen was mostly covered by some kind of cloth, leaving only a small amount of the screen visible; through that I could see the leg of a teen wearing a pair of jeans. The audio icon lit up and I pressed it to listen to the room on the screen; if it was paul...

I listened and heard a faint whisper over the audio, along with the sounds of someone sleeping and an occasional whimper. I was starting to get freaked out by the sounds when a new sound reached my ears; that of a large metal object dropping to the floor on the other side of the room. My head whipped up and I saw the fox from the stage getting to its feet. Instead of running for me, like the others had, the thing calmly began to walk to where I was standing, leaning against the button on the doorway.I didn't understand why it didn't run, but it was getting all too close for me to be comfortable. I pushed off of the wall and jumped onto the chair, managing to fit my upper body into the vent in the same motion. Behind me all I heard was a surprised grunt before a clang of metal told me another beast had run into the room at full speed and hit the fox. I pulled myself all the way into the vent and began crawling through it with the tablet to light my way.

Whoever had made that recording was an absolute idiot, unless he was a liar. Either way, I was going to wring his neck when we met tomorrow.

I saw a turn up ahead and crawled to it, surprised to realize that the ceiling there was gone. Bending my back up until I could stand up, I found another vent system above the one I had been using. It seemed like there was a second set of vents closer to the ceiling that would let me surprise the things. I pulled myself into it and began crawling again, pausing as I heard a harsh scraping behind me. I was beyond grateful that the animatronics couldn't bend like humans could, that simple fact made reaching this vent shaft almost impossible for them; or so I thought until I felt a scratch mark in the floor of the vent. Apparently no-where was safe from them. I kept moving.

After a few minutes of crawling through the vent my arms began aching and my head began pounding. My breathing was heavy and it felt like the air was getting staler with each breath, so I took a deep breath and held it as I pushed myself harder than before. I saw an opening ahead of me just as I was forced to take another breath and I felt my hope surge, until a deafening screech rang out from behind me, near enough for me too feel the movements it made as it began trying to move faster and catch me. I burst through the vent and landed on the floor seconds before I was sure it would have gotten me. I pushed myself off of the ground and prepared to run, but nothing came through the vent after me. I glanced back at the vent and saw a pair of eyes darker than the blackness surrounding them watching me. The fact that it didn't follow me could mean only one of two things, either they couldn't enter this room, or something that scared even them was in here.

I whipped my head around, expecting someone or something to be in here with me; nothing was. The room was empty except for a few chairs, a small table, some shelves, and a life-size doll that resembled a teenage girl. Something about the way she was sitting and the familiar smell of the air made me check my cameras again. I flicked through them- Lyra in the kitchen, the fox back on the stage sulking, Simon in the main party room- until I reached the camera for the supplies closet. Everything looked the same except for a pair of legs in the upper right corner of the screen, legs that were wearing pants eerily similar to my own. I started walking over to the doll and the person on the screen imitated my movements perfectly, proving to myself that that was where I was. I needed to get out of here and back to the guard room, whatever was in here was _not_ worth facing whatever was trapped here; only it seemed like nothing was here at the moment.

I shook my head and slowly crept towards the door, reluctant to go back out with the monsters that roamed the halls. About a foot from the door I heard the sound of wood scraping against metal and turned to see what had made it. The doll was standing, one hand forcing its way into a metal arm from one of the shelves. As I watched, the doll shoved it's hand even into the metal arm until its hand- its _bleeding_ hand- popped out of the opposite end of the arm. I made some kind of strangled noise, similar to a whimper but more like a yelp, and its face slowly turned to look at me. the painted smile was creepy enough, but its eyes were solid black; voids against pale skin of its face. I ran from that room as fast as my legs would carry me, knowing that it was getting ready to chase me even as I ran away.

Once I was outside, the color of the sky outside caught my attention. This close to the front doors I could see that the sky was black, there were no stars or moon in the sky. Stars were one thing, but there was going to be a full moon before the end of my week working here, I should have been able to see something. I shivered and kept running. As I sprinted past the main party room I remembered the fox; the stage it was guarding was directly across from the night-guard hallway. I was already breathing harder than I would have liked, and I knew it would get much worse much quicker if I was trying to outrun some demonic creature that could run faster than me longer than me. I'd figure it out if need be. I ran, sprinting as fast as I could through the turn and using the wall as a temporary wall to keep my balance. I heard a clang and then a chiming sound echoed through the building, sending a pleasant chill down my spine.

I kept running, not trusting my senses after the hallucination I'd had earlier, and made it into my office without incident. Once inside, however, the world went blurry again. Almost against my will, I rubbed my eyes, and when my vision cleared I saw the the one that had stolen my brother. He chuckled at the step back I took and walked closer until he was inches from me. "Congratulations, you survived your first night." His voice still sent shivers of panic down my back. "But please remember, we're still here waiting for you, and you can't get lucky forever." He began to walk past me but stopped and turned, facing me. "How did you move? When Fera was trying to grab you." At my confused, but still mostly afraid, stare, he clarified, "The fox." I didn't know what he meant, so I tried to shrug. the exercise was exhausting. "I-I... I d-don't know what y-you mean." He sniffed and left, an itch in my eye making me blink reflexively, and he was gone. I shivered; why had this had to happen to us?

I glanced at the clock, reassuring myself that it was, in fact, actually six o'clock. The relief I felt at that had my knees shaking, my brain finally letting itself acknowledge exactly how scared I'd been. I collapsed to my hands and knees, my breathing skyrocketing as I felt my pupils dilate and my heart beat out a frantic rhythm, and I let out a sound halfway between a groan and a whine. I fought the panic down and forced my breathing to slow down, I had to make a good impression on my new boss.

I just wished I didn't have to deal with a lack of sleep on top the rest of it off.

* * *

 **(A/N) I'm not dead! To those of you that were excited to see this thing continued, You've finally gotten your wish; to those that are curious as to why I hadn't updated in awhile, it's because of three things. First, my parents sent me off to a camp for two weeks; Second, due an idiotic mistake on my part, my electronic privileges were revoked; Third, writer's-block. A plain and simple lack of ability to write anything worth a scrap of your attention. I have planned out more of my story now, so I should be able to update again after a shorter period of time than this took.**

 **It will be at least a month or so before I can update again, though. I'm in the middle of a move, so that's taking up a lot of my time. thanks for waiting on me as long as you have.**

 **And in case you're wondering, the fan is the creepiest thing in FNaF. I thought it deserved an honourable mention. ;P**

 **Till next time!**

 **Your Scribe,**

 **ShadeFinder~**


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